Shrewd Mammal

I know that to most people 42 is the answer to everything but here in the UK, our MP’s are voting today on whether to allow the Police the right to detain “terrorist suspects” for up to 42 days without charge.

Now, ask people the question “Would you like the Police to be able to detain terrorist suspects for up to 42 days without charge in order to carry out investigations” and most right minded citizens will give you a resounding “YES” because to be honest, for those suspected of terrorism frankly 42 years would be fine by me however…..there are to my mind a few fundamental questions to answer aside from the obvious one about the Human Right to Freedom (Universal Declaration of Human Rights)..

1. Can we be sure that the Police and the State would use the powers in an appropriate and responsible manner.
2. Can we be sure that the powers themselves will not be a platform for further legislative development to further control the (mostly) law-abiding citizens
3. Can we be sure that both the public and the Police (ABE The State) have the same understanding of the phrase “Terrorist suspect”.

1: Can we be sure that the Police and the State would use the powers in an appropriate and responsible manner.

Remember during a Labour Party Conference when a 60-odd year old bloke was heckling Tony Blair and was removed from the auditorium…do you know what he was threatened with? That he would be charged under the umbrella of the “Prevention of terrorism act”. Or how about the lady who stood outside Parliament reading out the names of dead British Soldiers, charged under the “Prevention of Terrorism Act”.

I cannot see an ever more powerful Police Force and State resisting the urge to use these powers in ever increasing ways. Look at the way the Congestion Charge Cameras are now used, real-time feeds to Police yet when they were implemented we were told they would be used for Congestion Charging only.

2 Can we be sure that the powers themselves will not be a platform for further legislative development to further control the (mostly) law-abiding citizens?

No in a word. History teaches us, if we we will but learn.

3 Can we be sure that both the public and the Police (ABE The State) have the same understanding of the phrase “Terrorist suspect”.

To me (and I could be wrong) a “Terrorist Suspect” is someone about whom the Police have a reasonable suspicion that they are up to no good. Seems fair. But the use of the word suspect is the problem here…how do we define and agree upon a “suspect”? We have entered a similar situation to Russia in the 1930’s – we are being encouraged to grass up or “denounce” people on a mere suspicion, a suspicion that will likely ruin some ones life for a good while.

One of the biggest questions is this…

DO YOU TRUST THE GOVERNMENT TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT FOR YOU AND, DO YOU TRUST THE POLICE?

Now, do you?

Now, it has been said that “Parliament would have the right to veto use of the extended 42 day period if it so chose”…and this would happen how? Knowing that the Police will not and cannot divulge any pertinent information on current cases how would Parliament be able to make an informed judgment about the validity of the detention request? We would be left with…..taking the word of the home secretary….wow, and that is democratic how? The word of the same government who have lied to us time and time again….

So, the vote happens today and more than likely MP’s will be coerced (by the Whip) system to vote along party lines. I ask you in the name of all that was British HOW is that democracy? How is it that something as fundamental as this right to freedom less important than keeping a cosy MP’s job, salary and flat? How is the British public to be served by MP’s voting not according to the wishes of those who elected them, but of their paymasters?

It is at this point that I breathe a sigh of relief and turn with misty eyed hope to our House Of Lords. Imagine if Tony Blair had gotten his way over Lords reforms, if all we had now was an ELECTED upper chamber….where would the control mechanism be then???

I can only hope that the bastion of democracy that is the House of Lords does what it has always done and weighs in with reason and fortitude, displays the qualitative analysis for which is is known and revered and throws this ridiculous bill back from whence it came.

If we cannot rely on the “children of democracy” to do the right thing by the electorate, we can surely rely on the “guardians of democracy” to do it.

Now, I am sure that many people would value a Police force that had the tools to meet the threats we face as a society but, we must be ever vigilant in understanding the TRUE nature and level of the threat and not be brow-beaten into giving up more liberties in the pursuit of a security which IMHO is not at risk from outside or 3rd party organisations….we are at greater risk from our own state mechanism than any other organisation.

As a private (??) citizen, if I wanted to protest against the war in Iraq I now need to get the PERMISSION of the Police before I can. Is this the freedom our grandfathers fought and died for?

I think not.

This government and by extension the State machine are willingly, speedily and with complete joy trampling on the memories, lives, hopes and dreams of those who fought and died, those who are fighting now and those who live in this country. We are being controlled by a state intent of knowing everything whilst being responsible for nothing.

I say it is time for Democracy to be re-born, for people to get up from in front of their wide-screen tv’s, to stop worrying about where to go on holiday and realise that we have allowed so much of our liberty to be taken from us that we are now at the mercy of a state whose prime concern is control, taxation and subservience.

YOU try protesting without permission, YOU try to get your elected representative to vote against the party, YOU try to live a FREE life…see if I am wrong.

Tags: destroy, state, democracy, parliament, lords, blair, brown, labour, conservative